Algae on Frag Rack

[grouper25]

Algae has taken over my frag rack and has invaded the bases of many ZOA frags I have. I have removed some manually, but it grows back despite using Phosban.

I heard someone say use a magnesium dip on the zoas and that will killl the algae. Any ideas on this.....

Thanks

 

[capture]

before you start dipping to get rid of algae, have you thought about any other ways to go about this? No need to risk your zoas if you can do this naturally.

Give us some more info on your system...
Parameters
Lights
What's the algae look like?
Do you have a clean up crew? If so, what does it consist of?
Photo maybe?

 

[grouper25]

The algae problem only appears to be on my Frag rack. I had gotten some frags from a fellow reefer who had them a while and they were encrusted with algae. My frag rack sits very close to the surface under 2 X 250 halides and T5's. Both the Zoas nd algae love it obviously. Last night, I moved all the frags, cleaned each one and then the rack with boiling water. However, some of the little frags are impossible to clean off totally and I know it will grow back. The frags did not make the boiling water.LOL

I am using Phosban and my parameters are all fine. Your spot on, I really dont want to dip my high end zoas in anything if I dont need to.

 

[DetectiveTofu]

You don't make any mention as to what kind of algae it is

 

[Reefman79]

Take the frag/Rack out and brush it off with a super soft tooth brush...

 

[650-IS350]

I just put a couple of turbos in there to take care of it.

 

[MinibowMatt]

what kind of algae?
How old is the actual rack?

 

[grouper25]

Looks mostly like very fine moss or hair algae. As mentioned above, I removed all the frags and placed the 3 month old rack in some boiling water. The algae was toast!!! Yet, some of the frags still have algae and I suspect it will return at some point. At least the rack is now clean.......

 

[Python73]

Snails and tangs my friend. You did the right thing with the rack, vinegar also works (half cup in 5g bucket of water soak for a day). Also consider using a toothbrush to remove the algae from frags. Works great for smaller frags with plug surface area that hasn't grown coraline algae yet. Don't worry about the zoas, they will close if you hit them with the brush and ignore you otherwise.

S !

 

[DetectiveTofu]

Like Delsol said; snails! Turbo snails work awesome, as do trochus snails. Put them right onto the frag plug after acclimation and they should start mowing the algae away Sometimes though I noticed that if the algae is too long, they won't eat it. So I manually remove as much as I can (or shorten it) and the snails take care of the rest.

 

[capture]

if your frags are sitting on a frag rack it may be hard for the clean up crew to do its work, especially the crabs. put the affected frags on the sand for a bit and see what happens.
i would try not to use the toothbrush yet because anything you didnt get off completely, may spread in the tank.

 

[650-IS350]

You can do the toothbrush method, but manually clean the rack out of the tank. rinse in tap and dry off.

 

[Auntbeez]

Snails, Hermit crabs and a Lawn Mower Blenny. My 2cents... Mexican Turbos ... they go to town quickly and eat a lot.
I am not a big fan of dipping or scrubbing frags, as I found this often stresses the polyps.